Climatic changes could lead to more outbreaks of bubonic plague among human populations, a study suggests. Researchers found that the bacterium that caused the deadly disease became more widespread following warmer springs and wetter summers. The disease occurs naturally in many parts of the world, and the team hopes their findings will help officials limit the risk of future outbreaks. The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The bacterium Yersinia pestis is believed to have triggered the Black Death that killed more than 20 million people in the Middle Ages. The international team of scientists, who focused their research on Kazakhstan, said the disease was widespread among rodent populations. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

A Russian passenger jet carrying 171 people crashed Tuesday in Ukraine and officials said that all aboard are feared dead. A news agency cited Russian officials as saying terrorism had been ruled out. The Pulkovo airlines Tupolev 154, en route from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg, disappeared from radar screens over Ukraine about 2:30 p.m., officials said. Minutes later, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said wreckage from the plane was found on the ground. The Interfax news agency quoted Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Igor Krol as saying a fire broke out on the plane at 32,800 feet and that the crew decided to try to make an emergency landing. However, it also quoted Russian aviation official Alexander Neradko as saying that the plane might have run into strong turbulence. Russian Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andriyanova said she received information that “the plane most likely was hit by lightning.”...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14465000/

A judge approved an agreement that allows Frank Quattrone, the former Credit Suisse Group investment banker accused of obstructing an investigation, to avoid prosecution and resume work in the securities industry. Federal prosecutors will drop obstruction-of-justice charges against Quattrone if he doesn't break the law for a year, under the deal approved today by U.S. District Judge George Daniels in New York. Quattrone, 50, admitted no wrongdoing. ``This is really a hair's breadth from an outright dismissal of the case,'' Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in New Jersey, said yesterday in an interview. The agreement is a setback for prosecutors in New York, who won a 2004 conviction against Quattrone for obstructing justice and witness tampering. An appeals court overturned the verdict in March, citing flawed jury instructions while saying there was sufficient evidence to convict him. An earlier trial ended in a mistrial, ...http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPJrYh531ZvQ&refer=worldwide_news

A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say. Some have taken to carrying pepper spray to ward off the masked marauders and the woman who was bitten now carries an iron pipe when she goes outside at night. "It's a new breed," said Tamara Keeton, who with Kari Hall started a raccoon watch after an emotional neighborhood meeting drew 40 people. "They're urban raccoons, and they're not afraid." Tony Benjamins, whose family lost two cats, said he got a big dog a German Shepherd-Rottweiler mix to keep the raccoons away. One goal of the patrol is to get residents to stop feeding raccoons and to keep pets and pet food indoors. Lisann Rolle said she began carrying an iron pipe when she goes outside at night after being bitten by raccoons when she tried to pull three of them off her cat Lucy. She obtained rabies shots afterward as a precaution. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2342212

Some 400 extra European Union troops are being flown into the Democratic Republic of Congo capital, Kinshasa, in an attempt to quell gun battles. The Dutch and German peacekeepers were on standby in nearby Gabon in case of violence during last month's elections. Forces loyal to the two candidates in October's presidential run-off have now engaged in three days of clashes. Both the UN and Roman Catholic Church have called for an immediate end to the fighting, and urged both sides to talk. The archbishop of Kinshasa urged "political parties to stop sending out messages of hate that are poisoning the situation". ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5273528.stm

One of the defendants in the new trial of Saddam Hussein insisted on Tuesday that the military was attacking only Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels when it launched the Anfal campaign in the 1980s in which tens of thousands of Kurds were killed. Sultan Hashim al-Tai spoke on the second day of the trial, in which Saddam is charged with genocide over the 1987-88 Operation Anfal in northern Iraq. Al-Tai, who was the commander of Task Force Anfal and head of the Iraqi Army 1st Corps, said Anfal was launched in areas of the north that had been occupied by Iranian troops with the help of Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14460889/